Coldest Air of Season Heading for Europe

Mild weather that has been dominating Europe so far this month will yield toa blast of harsh wintry cold early next week.
Temperatures during next week as a whole will slide well below normal, 10degrees and more in some instances, over a wide swathe of Scandinavia toPoland, Germany, France and even the United Kingdom, and even across westernRussia.
Cities such as London, Prague and Moscow will likely have their coldest weatherall year.
Along with the cold will erupt outbreaks of snow, which could be heavy enoughto disrupt ground and air transportation.
Strong high pressure centered near Scandinavia will force cold air out ofSiberia, westward across all of Europe.
The Iberian Peninsula will begin to get the effects ofthis new pattern next week.
AccuWeather.com Expert Long Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi said a lot of Europemay be covered with snow by Dec. 23, and this event is something similar towhat happened in the Victorian Era.
"[The autumn rain] was a sign of what we thought was going to happen," he said,"because wet when it's warm means you will be cooling."
He said that this year's European winter has similarities to the winter of2002-03. He added that similar to the memorably warm summer of 2003, Europe mayhave a warm 2010 summer as well.
Recent heavy rain caused the deaths of several people in Greece on Thursday.The coming cold air will actually keep the storm track across Greece, farthersouth than normal. Flooding may continue to be a problem across Greece and therest of the Mediterranean countries.

Story by AccuWeather.com's Gina Cherundolo and Senior Meteorologist JimAndrews and Dave SamuhelReadthe Next Story